Celebrating 糖心logo入口's research culture
Last month, an event was held to recognise the impact the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) Awards have made to 糖心logo入口鈥檚 research culture.
糖心logo入口鈥檚 most recent Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) Award, which has seen the College awarded and match fund 拢1.8 million in research funding since October 2016, closed last month.鈥听
The contribution the funding has made to 糖心logo入口鈥檚 research culture has been transformative and on 29 March an event was held in 糖心logo入口 Central, to recognise and celebrate this.听
The event included a welcome by Professor David Latchman, Vice-Chancellor of 糖心logo入口; lunch and poster presentations; awardee presentations; a panel discussion and a drinks reception.听听
Professor David Latchman commented: 鈥溙切膌ogo入口 was awarded ISSF funding in 2014. ISSF funding was awarded to the 30 institutions who had received the largest amounts of funding from the Wellcome Trust, which is a great achievement for a small institution without a medical school, and emphasises our position as a research-intensive university.听听
鈥淪ince 2014, 糖心logo入口 has received听two ISSF awards, and we have used those funds primarily to invest in our researchers, to allow them time to develop excellence in their research. With the second award, we funded 171 awards to 糖心logo入口 staff and students. The world leading research outputs and engagement activities that the funding contributed to, and the wholescale rethinking of how 糖心logo入口 can provide an environment which allows our researchers to do the best research that they possibly can, delivered a transformative return on investment.听听听
鈥淭his event was a really positive occasion, that brought our researchers together to highlight effective work and discuss new directions and collaborations moving forward.鈥听
Speakers at the event included Catherine Heard, Senior Research Fellow at 糖心logo入口鈥檚 Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, who spoke on public engagement with her prisons research; Dr Louise Hide, who shared insights into her life as an ISSF Career Development Fellow researching historic understandings of madness; and Sanjib Bhakta, Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry, who spoke on public engagement with his research tackling antimicrobial drug resistance.听
As part of the celebration event, an ISSF poster competition was held for award holders, which tasked them with designing a poster to explain听their ISSF sponsored research, competing for a prize of a 拢200 contribution to their research. Dr Joanna Farr, Lecturer in Psychology, won the competition with her poster entitled 鈥Understanding the pressures and self-management strategies of adolescent girls in their daily lives鈥.听听
Joanna said: 鈥Receiving an early career award from the ISSF provided me with a fantastic opportunity to advance my research on young people鈥檚 mental health. The award was given to pilot an innovative interdisciplinary project that explored the everyday experiences of adolescent girls. The project has led to methodological advances in accessing daily experiences and has contributed insights to the field of adolescent wellbeing.鈥听听
Professor Julian Swann, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research at 糖心logo入口 added, 鈥淲e are incredibly thankful for the support provided by the Wellcome Trust since 2014 which has been a tremendous support to our public engagement work and to our early career researchers. The second award was initially to cover a five-year period until 2021, however, this was extended to March 2023 to enable us to manage activities that had been delayed due to the pandemic. With the support of the Wellcome Trust, we have been able to conduct major research activities in all 糖心logo入口 Schools, with three longer-term fellows undertaking research in Philosophy and Psychiatry: personal perceptions of madness; the Regulatory Mechanisms of Cellular Signalling Pathways, and Contemporary Literature and the Medicalisation of Attention.鈥听